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TechnoratiFor Peace, The US Will Have to Change
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Barack Obama has been elected U.S. President at a time when the number of extremists has risen dramatically since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, going by the resistance to Western forces in the region. The U.S.-led 'war on terror' has itself now become a threat to peace.
![[Women view a mosaic image of Barack Obama made from stamps, at a stamp show in Jakarta on Oct. 25, 2008. (DADANG TRI/REUTERS)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/obamapeace1106.jpg "obamapeace1106.jpg")
A
combination of despotic Arab regimes propped up by the West,
neo-colonialism, religious intolerance, educational stagnation, a clash
of cultures and religious ideology, and a U.S. foreign policy biased in
favour of Israel has further helped build this situation.
Given the possibility of an attack on Iran, the near future appears even more ominous. But all hope is not lost, according to both an Israeli and a Palestinian analyst.
"There is still a possibility for the relationship between the U.S. and the Middle East to be repaired, but it will require a quantum change in the attitude of the U.S. administration towards Arabs and Muslims if this is to occur," Dr Ahmed Yousef, political advisor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told IPS from his office in Gaza city.
But Dr. Moshe Maoz, Israeli professor emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, and senior fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, told IPS that "significant self-reflection and hard work too has to be done by the Arab governments and extremist Islamic leaders themselves if there is to be any hope of a political breakthrough."
Several years ago, following a peak of death and destruction in Iraq, the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a U.S. think-tank, held a conference which examined what went wrong between the West and the Muslim world, and why.
Milton Viorst, author of 'Storm from the East' and an expert on the region, said there is indeed a clash of civilisations here.
"I really do believe that we have two civilisations here which we have to understand, and I also believe that the war in Iraq is simply the latest eruption in a conflict that has lasted since the time of Prophet Muhammad nearly 1400 years ago. Neither the Christian nor the Muslim civilisation is necessarily superior, but both are profoundly different."
The bloody massacres during the Christian Crusades since the first of them in the 11th century, led up to the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire that finally folded up in the early 20th century.
"Britain and France, the two great imperial powers, decided what they were going to do because the Ottoman Empire stood in the way of their conquest of the region. And when the Ottomans fell in World War I, the whole region was opened up once again to the Christian West," said Viorst.
Shibley Telhami from the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, says clashes of civilisations have occurred throughout history, and that this in itself does not explain the intra-civilisational clashes such as those between moderate and hard line Muslims in the Middle East.
"During the Second Lebanon War (with Israel in 2006) the majority of the Arab public was sympathetic to Hezbollah even though the Lebanese government is pro-Western," said Shibley.
Dr. Anthony Cordesman from the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said "the struggle is religious, cultural, intellectual, political and ideological, not military nor driven by secular values. As such, the real war on terrorism can only be partially won within Islam and at a religious and ideological level."
Many of the poor and disaffected in the Middle East are attracted to religious extremism as an answer to what they see as a limited future and a lack of personal hope.
Furthermore, many Arabs say the current U.S. strategy of military force is counterproductive if the desire is to win the hearts and minds of the majority of moderate Arabs and Muslims in the Arab street.
"There are too many memories of colonialism, and there is too much anger against U.S. ties to Israel for Western forces to succeed," said Cordesman. "The United States needs to understand that it can only use its influence and its counter-terrorism and military capabilities if it changes its image in the Islamic world."
"This is the core of the issue," said Yousef. "Arabs and Muslims are fed up with America's one-sided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This has caused immense resentment and bitterness. If this conflict is resolved, then it will have a domino effect on peace in the rest of the region," he told IPS.
Cordesman said efforts to change the U.S. image would require efforts to support genuine reform and not just pay lip service to it. Job creation, stabilisation of economies, respect for human rights and improving education would all be necessary.
Moaz told IPS that in order to truly defeat extremism and terrorism, it was also necessary for corrupt Arab governments to work towards establishing democracy and a more equitable distribution of wealth away from the ruling cronies and elite, as most Arabs were more concerned with day-to-day issues of survival above Western concerns for human rights.
But forcing democratic elections prematurely before these societies have established political systems which incorporate sound legal checks and balances to tackle political demagoguery would be counterproductive, he said.
"It is a catch-22 situation. How can free, democratic governments be established if the short-sightedness of the West is aimed at its own short-term geopolitical and economic interests which involve supporting despotic and dictatorial regimes as long as they are pro-Western."
Shibley said the problem was that neither the unelected Arab governments nor their Western benefactors cared much about Arab public opinion and their needs as long as their own interests were being served.
But despite the bitterness towards the U.S. there still remains substantial goodwill. Yousef, who lived in the U.S. for years, said he had grown up with the Islamic movement in the sixties and seventies and that they had been great admirers of the U.S.
"We respected the technology and the traditions of democracy and human rights. We were all with America when it fought the Communists, alongside the Mujahideen, in Afghanistan.
"We don't hate the ordinary American people and we have no sympathy whatsoever for the criminals who perpetrated 9/11. But these people are going to win even more support from extremist elements if the U.S. continues to be so partisan and to display what appears to be a clearly anti-Islamic and anti-Arab agenda."
15 Comments so far
Show AllPalestine-israel is at the Nexus of discord in this world, on this planet. The ripples of death, colonialism and repression that flow outwards from this epicentre dictate to the ME and define much of US foreign policy.
The hi-jacking of America by the Zionists, the infiltration of our governemt by people to whom loyalty to israel comes first, the ugly anti-Arab bias in the media.....
My country, my world,
Is Enmeshed with the ZioNazi's and I don't like it.
Get off the bottom of my shoes you scum.
This was the reason for the 9/11 events. How is Zionist Israel ever going to pay
for the millions of dead and maimed and the trilions of dollars diverted from humanity?
All of the comments above have merit. While it is possible that Obama could initiate real change in the ways of the Empire, you can be sure that if he does, even many of his closest allies will resist- especially the Democratic leadership in Congress. Pelosi and her cronies will be a big problem. They never spoke out against illegal activities of the executive branch because they, themselves were in it up to their eyeballs. Our Congress has become a front for corporatocracy. The only way I can see potential for any real change is if those who supported Obama so energetically will be equally energetic in demanding the change he promised. And if Congress attempts to thwart him in that, then Americans should march on Washington and practice some severe civil disobedience. Of course, this would take Obama, himself, to carry his case for real change to the court of the American people, and explain in no uncertain terms that Congress- both parties- are hell-bent on protecting their coffers, and that, unless Americans speak out, en masse, his hands are tied. I still have hope that Obama's rhetoric was intended to not rock too many boats and jeopardize his bid. He will be under enormous pressure from Congress and it's pimps to tow the line. He must be under greater pressure from us to not cave in. He could start by rescinding what remains of the $750B bailout. Yes, he supported it. But he could reason that it is now obvious that it's not serving those it was intended for, and it needs to be revamped. And there is reason to suspect that he may do that, since Bush et al are frantically trying to give their cronies as much as they can prior to January. If Obama really had balls he would pressure Congress to stop it now. Oh, forget that. As I said above, Pelosi and the gang are part of the problem with an idea such as that.
There is no randomness. It is only our ignorance
And it took them all this time to find out this simple truth:
You don't win friends by bombing them, torturing them, robbing them of natural resources.
The 'murkin people somehow refuse to see what is going on in their name. We're so used to the familiar cries of "We're Number One", "We're the good guys".
The wars are not being waged to be won, just to keep on going. The payday for the corporations is too big to let it all stop.
Bringing democracy to the Middle East? What a laugh. If we REALLY wanted that, we'd start by bringing democracy to our allies, the repressive countries like Saudi-Arabia and Egypt. No invasion necessary!
The really sad part is, that under our New President, the situation will just simply continue. Mark my words, in 4 years we'll still have troops and bases in Iraq, under whatever pretext, and in spite of the will of the Iraqi people.
American democracy is only applied when it agrees with what the American government wants. Doubt this? LOOK AT THE BAILOUT! (Oh, 10 % of that has already been spent, on pay and bonusses for the CEO's that caused the meltdown). (That's 70 Billion Dollars, you couldn't even COUNT that far in your entire life).
We don't have to change: our government has to change. All we have to do is laugh those who rule by fear, by posing threats which do not exist over and over until the weak-kneed and lily-livered start having sphincter regulation problems at one end and see mega-bucks with the other, out of Dodge. It's about building connections, not making up ways to divide us against each other -- us meaning everyone on this rapidly shrinking rock we live on. Sharing happens, what do we want to share?
If the US pulls out of the Middle East and stops supporting Israel at the same time it will spell the beginning of the end of the US empire. Within years US will be reduced to a second rate or even a third rate power. Nobody will fear it and so nobody will respect it.
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Stability in the Near-East and the Middle East; starts with the United States Military almost totally withdrawing its ground forces. Pull out and regroup with Naval Air Power. A dozen isolated fortified Air Bases in Asia; in addition to, a dozen Aircraft-Carriers in the Eastern Mediterreanan, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
The United States needs to restock its Armament, recruit-retrain its Armed Forces, and rebuild its National Guard Units here at home.
Our civilian agencies can start "Marshall Plan" programs to rebuild and educate the masses of the Middle East and the Near East.
Our next Administration must start to act like Honest and Honorable Brokers at the Middle East Peace Conferences. The new President must distance himself and his Administration, from the Rulers of the Arab States, and from the State of Israel. This will be politically painful, but it is the only way to peace, and peace is the only way for civilization to survive.
Peace in the near future, or Armageddon in the near future.
Time is running out.......................................
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I'm not sure what the plan for educating the masses in the Middle East would entail, but educating the masses in the U.S. would seem like a priority in combatting this murderous empire and the "new morning in America" hokum that surfaces on a regular basis. The evils of previous administrations just morph into the following regimes. The false paradigms of left/right, liberal/conservative need to be punctured to allow people to see that we are being manipulated constantly in service of the empire. The powers that be are not interested in education in a true sense--only in keeping people embroiled and alienated, and unaware of the basic shared humanity. That is why images of dead Iraqis, Pakistanis, Afghanis, and others are always pasted over with those of Hannah Montana, Brad and Angelina, Paris H., etc., etc., etc.--or a new Lexus, Hummer, bling, bling, bling. We need to educate each other, all age groups, as difficult and contentious as that might be to define real priorities. It is possible to work together without being part of the herd.
"I'm not sure what the plan for educating the masses in the ME would entail"
This; keeping the oil wealth (nationalizing it) in the countries from which it originates and building infrastructure and Schools and moderate Madrassas and Universities with the $. The people don't need a 'plan,' they need to be left alone (US, Israel).
Other than this observation, I think your post is poignant and Dead-On.
Whole Lotta Love.
Although we the people rose up in record numbers and expressed our HOPE and clear mandate against President Bush's failed foreign policies of militarism and imperialism, even optimists such as I, do NOT expect to win the good fight for equal human rights and upholding of international law come next inauguration day.
Politicians are often the last ones to get it and policy change is always preceded by education and education is the way to compassion, and compassion is the way to change.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding offers Analysis and Expert opinions to Obama and we the people who pay taxes;
And BTW-$7-10 MILLION USA tax dollars a day got to support the 41 year Israeli occupation of Palestine
The IMEU's Advice can be read @:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1093&Itemid=212
Eileen Fleming, Citizen Journalist, Author,
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and
"13 Minutes with Vanunu" FREELY STREAMING
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
A very well written article and very, very, true.
Unfortunately the comments by CosmonautZero, Brian Brademeyer,and cuervodeluna probably are also true!!
He promised to continue to support Israel despite their attempt at genocide before he was even elected. I'll be shocked if he makes any progress towards Israeli-Palestinian peace and the vastly increased support in the region that would bring.
Rahm Emmanuel as chief-of-staff does not appear to be an auspicious beginning for MidEast peace "change we can believe in".
There are other sides to the Rahm Emanuel story: "The balance of power in the House Democratic Caucus shifts far more to Frank with Rahm out of the legislative branch and in a chain-of-command under which Emanuel now has to follow orders instead of give them independently. Loose cannon on deck, now bolted down. Very shrewd." http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope